Food service carts generally are designed for service convenience and mobility so that they can be used in different locations and for a wide range of service functions. Such carts usually have an array of panels or shelves on which trays of food, utensils, and other items are placed. Some types of carts are made collapsible so that they can be stored in a relatively small floor space. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,436,092 issued to Werner shows a cart in which upper and lower panels on both sides of a cart are pivotable to upright positions, in conjunction with rotatable sleeve locking members and wheel assemblies which pivot inwardly, so that the cart assumes a slim vertical profile for storage. U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,428 issued to Ziliani shows an arrangement in which upper and lower panels are hinged to a pair of A-frames in parallel so that they can be rotated upright to vertical positions.
It has been desired to serve hot food and drink from food service carts so that they can be used for a wide range of service functions. This is currently done by placing chafer dishes, of the type having a flame heating element below a water pan, and containers of hot drink on the shelves of the cart. However, these added implements tend to clutter the shelves and compete for space with each other due to their non-complementary shapes and sizes. Also, when the carts are put away, the chafer dishes and drink containers are carried away to separate storage locations, while the cart may be collapsed and stored elsewhere, thereby resulting in inconvenience to the service personnel and requiring added storage space. Another version of food service cart has provision for mounting food trays and heating elements on the cart, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,132,641, for example, but is not made collapsible for storage.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the invention to provide an integrated food service cart system which is designed to hold chafer dish assemblies while in use and to allow the chafer dish assemblies to be stored on the cart in a vertically collapsed condition for storage. It is a further object of the invention to provide an integrated food service cart system in which the chafer dish assemblies have complementary shapes and structures which allow them to be used as well as stored on the cart in a highly compact arrangement. A particular object is to provide a food service cart structure in which upper and lower side panels and shelves are readily pivoted between horizontal use and vertical storage positions, and in which the chafer dish components can be stored entirely within the compact volume of the cart in its collapsed storage configuration.